Multiportion barrel for a launcher of fin-stabilized projectiles



De 30. 1969 B. LICHTENSTERN 85,

MULTIPORTION BARREL FOR' A LAUNCHER OF FIN-STABILIZED PROJECTILES Filed June 5, 1968 FIG. 2

INVENTO R BEA/1A M/A/ LicHmvsrEM United States Patent 3,486,411 MULTIPORTION BARREL FOR A LAUNCHER 0F FIN-STABILIZED PROJECTILES Benjamin Lichtenstern, Haifa, Israel, assignor to Etablissement Salgad, Vaduz, Liechtenstein Filed June 3, 1968, Ser. No. 733,970 Claims priority, application Germany, June 5, 1967, 1,578,006 Int. Cl. F41f 17/08 U.S. Cl. 89-16 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure provides an assembly for use in firing fin-stabilized projectiles. The assembly includes a barrel having a muzzle portion and a base portion. Both the muzzle and the base portion have mutually engaging threaded contacting surfaces and mutually engaging guiding contacting surfaces. These barrel portions are screwed into one another in a continuous manner. Groove means are provided between the contacting surfaces thereof to provide a method for conveying dirt away from the contacting surfaces and also provide a portable assembly that is very easily constructed or dismantled.

Background of the invention Mortars can usually be dismantled for carrying, as they consist of a barrel, a base-plate and a biped stand as separate parts. The lower end of the barrel has a basepieoe which engages with the base-plate. As the barrel must be of a certain length in order to provide corresponding guidance for the projectile, the barrel is the longest part of the mortar, considerably exceeding the dimensions of the biped stand or of the base-plate. This makes the barrel clumsy to transport. In the case, particularly of the transport of mortar parts by paratroopers, the barrel exceeds the dimensions pemitted for direct carrying by the paratroopers. The result of this has been that when troops are carried by plane, the mortar could not be carried by the soldier, even when broken down into its component parts. These parts were separately conveyed in the plane, and thrown out separately by the team jumping from the plane. This was made necessary at least by the barrel of the mortar and was a complicated procedure leading to a not inconsiderable loss of time. The same applied when the mortar parts are carried by infantry. The barrel is heavy to carry and hinders the carrier, particularly in overgrown terrain.

Summary of the invention The object of the invention is to make it possible to keep all parts of the mortar below a pre-determined length, in order to make these parts suitable for carrying by the paratrooper himself. The invention provides a barrel for a launcher for fin-stabilised projectiles, the barrel comprising two parts of approximately the same length adapted to be screwed together and having cooperating guiding surfaces.

This design makes it possible for the paratrooper to carry the dismantled mortar in the normal weapons container. The barrel parts are easy to handle, and present no hindrance to the regulation parachute jump. At the same time the connection between the barrel parts is so designed that the parts can easily be separated and put together again.

Preferably, the part nearer the muzzle end of the barrel extends over the other part where they are screwed together, the guiding surfaces being cylindrical and the parts having annular surfaces which come into sealing contact with each other.

Longitudinal grooves may pass through the guiding surface and the threading of the part on the inside of the screwed connection. In this way, any dirt on the guiding surfaces and the threading will be conveyed into the grooves during assembly of the barrel and out of harms way. Each groove may also open at a slight incline to the outside so that dirt can be easily removed. In order to facilitate the assembly and dismantling of the barrel there may be provided blind holes for the insertion of keys in the part on the outside of the screwed connection and in an annular re-inforcement of the other part.

Brief description of drawings The invention is described hereinafter by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section of an example of a barrel according to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a side view of a barrel as in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a cross-section along line III--III of FIG. 1.

Description of specific embodiment A barrel 1 of a mortar consists of two barrel-parts 2 and 3 of approximately the same length. The part 2 is the upper part, whereas the part 3 is adapted to be fixed at the bottom to a base-plate (not shown). In order to join the parts 2 and 3, the upper barrel-part 2 is provided with a sleeve 4, which has threading 5 on its inner surface between its ends. The lower barrel-part 3 is correspondingly provided with threading 6. Cylindrical guiding surfaces 7a, 7b and 8a, 8b are provided above and below the threaded sections 5 and 6. These guiding surfaces are preferably lipped surfaces. This applies in the same way to the barrel-part 3 with an annular surface 9a coming into contact, as a seal, with an annular surface 9b of the upper barrel-part 2.

Several longitudinal grooves 10 are distributed over the circumference of the lower barrel-part 3, these grooves extending over the entire length of the connection, i.e. the guide-surface 7b, threading 6 and guidesurface 8b. Thus both barrel-parts 2 and 3 can be screwed one into the other at the sleeve 4, in such a way that the guide-surface 8b is not completely covered by the sleeve 4, so that the grooves 10 open outwards at openings 11. When the barrel-parts are screwed together, any dirt located on the connection-surfaces is pushed into grooves 10, whence it can be blown away. At 10a, the groove 10 emerges at a slight incline. The longitudinal grooves 10 serves to catch any dirt present on the threading or the fitting-surfaces when screwing the parts 2 and 3 together. The grooves are also provided in case leading surfaces 9a and 9b are not screwed firmly against one another. In this case, without the grooves 10, the issuing explosive gases would lead to melting on the guide-surfaces or on the threading. The longitudinal grooves have the object of freely leading off any such issuing gases.

Blind holes 14 and 15 are provided in the re-inforced annular part 13 of the lower barrel-part 3 and in the sleeve 4 respectively; these holes serve for the insertion of the hook-shaped keys, so that with the aid of these tools barrel-parts 2 and 3 can easily be screwed together and taken apart again. The holes 14 and 15 are so provided that the barrel wall is not weakened at the connection-point.

What we claim is:

1. An assembly for use in firing fin-stabilized projectiles comprising:

(a) a barrel having a muzzle portion and a base portion,

3 (b) each said muzzle portion and said base portion having mutually engaging threaded contacting surfaces and mutually engaging guiding contacting surfaces adjacent said threaded contacting surfaces, (c) at least one of said threaded contacting surfaces having a continuous thread structure providing means to screw said muzzle portion into said base portion, and (d) groove means extending through the threaded contacting surfaces and the guiding contacting surfaces without interrupting the thread structure. 2. An assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein said guiding contacting surfaces include first contiguous sections located on the base portion side of the threaded contacting surface, and. second contiguous sections" lo;

cated on the muzzle portion side of the threaded contacting surfaces.

3. An assembly as defined in claim 2 wherein said groove means includes a longitudinal groove structure located along the threaded contacting surface and guiding contacting surfaces on one of the said barrel portions.

4. An assembly as defined in claim 3 wherein said barrel portion is the base portion thereof.

5. An assembly as defined in claim 2 wherein said guide contacting surfaces include a structure having a diameter that is different than the diameter of the threaded contacting surfaces.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 347,984 8/1886 Babbitt 89-16 1,163,450 12/1915 Pervelis 8916 2,543,766 3/1951 Davis 89-16 FOREIGN PATENTS 177,481 7/ 1922 Great Britain.

BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner STEPHEN C.'BENTLEY, Assistant Examiner 

